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The Quarter Finals

Published: 15/04/12

The wait finally came to an end this week when all the Teams were assembled to make one master Team- Huzzah!Excitement was building backstage as the Talents got used to the new mix but the realization had definitely set in that this was their last chance to prove to their Coaches as well as the viewers at home that they deserved this spot in the Final Twelve and even more so in next weeks Semi Finals!

Up first proving their worth was Conor Quinn who was accompanied by eight of our lovely dancers, singing “Rocks” by Primal Scream, Sharon felt the song was one dimensional but Kian said he thinks Conor was the one to beat. Surprising us this week, Sharon Gaynor decided to opt for a non female vocalist song and performed Rufus Wainwright’s “Hallelujah”, Brian and Bressie were both dreading the song choice, but they agreed it was her best performance yet. Though last week, Vanessa had tried a more contemporary number, the Coaches agreed that she should play to her strengths and she did just that with “Nessun Dorma” by Giacomo Puccini, Kian summed it up with the words; “stunning, absolutely amazing” and she had Sharon in tears; a winning performance all round. The trend of the night seemed to be very much steered towards the importance of song choice and Brendan Keeley kept with that trend when he played to his strengths by singing his old hit “I’ll Always Be Lonely” which a lot of the audience at home will remember to be a big from the nineties, when Kathryn asked if Brian felt it was an unfair advantage singing his own song, Brian defended his choice stating if you’re a talented singer-songwriter, why not show it off?! After being saved three weeks ago, Liam hoped to avoid the bottom two when he sang Emeli Sande’s “Heaven”, Sharon said that though she was a fan of his voice she didn’t feel the song choice was right. Next up was Kim Hayden, who though had seemingly found her niche in the bigger performance song numbers, she decided this week to pick a song that she felt best described her journey in the competition so far; which was Britney Spears’ “Everytime”, Kian felt she has become a popstar right in front of their eyes, but that it was a little bit too forced tonight. One of our more seasoned performers, Richie took to the stage to belt out Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” and Brian was quite confident that Richie has “the Voice of Ireland”. Our family man, Jim Devine has had a busy few weeks trying to juggle the competition, his new baby and not not to mention his farm, but that didn’t stop him giving us 110% when he sang Lonestar’s “I’m Already There”, Bressie believed he finally gave the emotion that they’ve been waiting for and thinks it came from the birth of his child. This week, Kiera took a step back from the Rock Chick, and dove in with a more subdued song choice: Eva Cassidy’s version of “Danny Boy”, it wasn’t Sharon’s favourite performance from her but Bressie felt she came off thos high notes well and looked absolutely beautiful doing it. Then, a freshly groomed Pat Byrne kicked off the final part of the Show with Joe Cocker’s “With A Little Help From My Friends”, his new look forced Bressie to admitting he fancied Pat, where as Sharon was left in a tizzy saying that Pat did “something to her again tonight”.For Team Brian, Alan Fitzsimons has been saved from elimination twice but we wonder if “If You’re Not the One” by Daniel Bedingfield was enough to win over the audience at home, Bressie didn’t think the song worked for Alan and Kian felt he “over thought” the song and that’s where he struggled. To end the show on a high note, Kevin Keeley stepped out of his country style safe zone to sing Bruno Mars’ number one hit “Marry You”, Kian felt he is a little bit out of his depth in this competition and Brian admitted that he thought Kevin was “cuteness personified”. And so concluded the first Live Show with all four Teams, it was great to have them all together back stage but we weren’t too excited to have them back up there again to announce the four that would be going home.

To keep us in ignorant bliss for a short while, we had four young men to distract us with the sweet, sweet voices- The Coronas were the latest Guest Act to wow us on The Voice Of Ireland Results stage. They performed their latest single; “Mark My Words” which was the second to be released from their new Album Closer To You.

But that sad time of the show came again when we found ourselves biting our nails in angst for the results! Kathryn Thomas acted as a medium to the voices from above and told us that Richie, Jim, Vanessa and Conor were safe to go forth to the next stage of the competition where Alan, Brendan, Sharon, Liam, Kim, Kevin, Pat and Kiera were left to the mercy of their Coaches. For Team Brian, he decided to go with his gut and chose a shocked Alan Fitzsimons, sending Brendan home. For Team Kian, he decided as Liam just hadn’t made that connection with the audience, he would be the one to go home and Sharon would be saved. And for Team Sharon, her choice for who to stay was based on who has developed the most in the competition and she felt that that was Kim and sent home Kevin Keeley. And Finally for Team Bressie, on tonight’s performance alone he sent Kiera home and brought Pat through to the next round. It was an emotional goodbye for all the Teams, but V Reporter Claire was backstage to dry those tears

As our Talents have been saying, losing someone from their team at this stage, is like losing a member of the family, it never feels the same without them.

Only two more weeks to go until we have our final Winner, but until then folks, it was a pleasure as always!